Shropshire MP Owen Paterson pulls out of farming conference
North Shropshire MP Owen Paterson was forced to pull out of a keynote speech at a farming conference today after failing to recover from eye surgery in time.
The NFU national conference was taking in Birmingham today, and the Environment Secretary had been due to give a keynote speech.
Mr Paterson underwent urgent surgery for a detached retina this month, but had hoped to make his return at the union's major conference today. However, he has not recovered sufficiently to speak at the event.
A Defra spokeswoman said: "The secretary of state is recovering from major surgery and will return to work when medical advice deems it appropriate to do so."
Farm minister George Eustice was announced as the replacement for Mr Paterson, and was addressing the conference this morning. Mr Paterson had been expected to give more details about the government's response to the floods as well as discussing the future of the badger cull.
